


Seven Minutes

by aizia



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, seven minutes in heaven au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-03-20 09:38:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3645525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aizia/pseuds/aizia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dusk from the window lit up her face in soft, yellow light, her eyes more green than Korra had ever seen them. She wasn't sure how she'd never noticed how beautiful they were until then. Or how her dark waves perfectly framed her face, or how she smelled like springtime, or how she was smiling at her with her lipstick smudged and something fluttered in Korra's chest and she couldn't stop staring.</p>
<p>"We’ve been nothing but friends for our whole lives but then we played seven minutes in heaven on a dare and now I think I might actually be in love with you" AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Korra was growing restless. 

Asami was turned away from her, in light conversation with Opal, and Mako was absorbed with something on his phone. Bolin was on the other side of the living room, eating cheetos by the handful—an activity Korra knew from experience not to interrupt him during. 

She recognized some sophomores—probably Bolin's friends—playing Mario Kart in the corner, but she wasn't about to go join them. Korra was making a beeline to the kitchen, hoping to find some entertainment there, when Bolin cleared his throat and clapped his orange dust-covered hands together, clearly finished with his cheetos.

"Alright, we're playing truth or dare," he said, grinning around the room.

Mako looked up from his phone and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Bolin, we're not playing truth or—"

"Oh come on, it'll be _fun_."

"Don't be a killjoy, Mako," Opal said. 

He seemed to contemplate this for a moment, and then sighed. "Fine. Just don't break anything, or I'll get blamed for it."

Bolin went first, daring Opal to poke her Pre-Calc teacher on Facebook. She looked briefly terrified, and Korra couldn't blame her—Mr. Huang was a terror—but she did it anyway, logging in, painstakingly checking that you indeed could poke someone if they weren't on your friends list, and tapping the dreaded button.

"I like you, Bolin," Opal said, "but I also really hate you."

He put his hands up in mock-surrender. "Hey, you'll have lots of time to get back at me later. And I like you too."

"You two are gross," Korra said. Asami elbowed her playfully.

"I agree with Korra, though. Get a room."

Opal rolled her eyes. "It's my turn to give the dare. You really shouldn't be speaking that way to someone who has so much power." 

Korra shrugged, and Opal seemed deep in thought.

"We're going to play seven minutes in heaven," she said, finally.

Asami grimaced and Korra hoped against hope that she wouldn't end up involved.

"Bolin and I will write the names of everyone at this party on a slip of paper. Asami will pick one of the slips from a hat, and well..." she grinned devilishly, "get a room. Or more specifically, a closet."

Bolin and Opal left to go find paper and pens, and Korra slouched into the couch. "I feel like this is kind of my fault."

"Don't worry about it." Asami said, then smiled teasingly. "Maybe I'll get somebody hot, right?"

The pair of sophomores came back in record time, a baseball cap full of paper slips in tow. Most of the rest of the party followed behind them. 

"You ready, Asami?" Opal asked.

She shrugged. "As I'll ever be."

Bolin did the honours, rummaging his hand around in the hat with gusto. He finally chose one slip, mouth dropping as soon as it was close enough for him to read. Opal looked over at the torn piece of paper and suppressed a giggle.

She shook her head, smiling. "What are the chances..." 

Something about her smile made Korra uneasy.

"Well then," Bolin cleared his throat and gestured to a small door. "To Asami, and her um, lucky partner, Korra, the closet is this way."

Asami's cheeks went pink immediately. Some kids snickered, and Mako looked concerned. Korra stared at the carpet.

Asami? Her best-friend-since-fifth-grade Asami? She knew Asami was pretty, objectively, but she'd never thought about her in _that_ way. She wasn't Korra's type, whatever that was.

Korra steeled herself and walked towards the door, bracing for it to be awkward as hell. Asami could barely meet her eyes, still blushing. 

Opal turned the knob and ushered them in, switching the light off inside, though the window kept the room half-lit. She smiled, almost apologetically, and closed the door. 

Korra swallowed, and then it was just her and Asami sitting in the semi-darkness, faces inches away from each other. 

Suddenly all she could smell was mango hand cream and then Asami was kissing her, slow and soft and tender and unlike anything she'd expected. When she pulled away Korra could only stare at her with her mouth half open, and Asami blushed even redder, tucking hair behind her ear. 

"Was that too much? I'm sorry-"

"NO!" Korra coughed. "I mean no. That was fine!"

In fact, she wanted to do it again. And then maybe again after that. 

Korra leaned in the next time, catching Asami's lower lip, and Asami tangled a hand in her hair. Korra cupped her cheek in response.

They were panting by the time they pulled away from each other, and Asami let out a breathy laugh. Dusk from the window lit up her face in soft, yellow light, her eyes more green than Korra had ever seen them. She wasn't sure how she'd never noticed how beautiful they were until then. Or how her dark waves perfectly framed her face, or how she smelled like springtime, or how she was smiling at her with her lipstick smudged and something fluttered in Korra's chest and she couldn't stop staring.

"You're beautiful." 

It was off her tongue before she could stop it.

\----

She caught herself glancing at Asami every so often as the party ended; sometimes they'd make eye contact and Asami would smile, as if she knew what Korra was thinking.

If she guessed Korra was thinking about kissing her again, she'd be right.

\----

Asami drove away in a red car that night, and Korra watched her leave. She understood, then, why boys stared at her in the hallways. And then she wished they wouldn't.

When it got too cold for her to stand on the porch any longer, she walked back into the house, which was mostly deserted now, Mako watching something on TV and Bolin asleep on the other couch. She was always the last to leave when they had parties, and she was never exactly sure why. 

She sunk down on the couch beside Mako, knowing he was the worst person to ask and asking him anyways.

"What do you do when you think you love someone?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever! Hopefully the ending will make up for it.

They didn't talk about the kiss in school the next day. Or the day after that. Things went on as normal over the next two weeks, and Korra was relieved and somewhat disappointed.

Everything made sense to her, now. It was just a matter of telling Asami.

But she didn't know what to tell her. She couldn't casually walk up to her best friend of eight years and say, _Hey, I want to taste your lipstick again._

And every day she became more and more convinced that the kiss had just been part of the game. The thought crushed her more than she’d like to admit. 

She didn’t know who to ask for advice, either. Asami was the person she usually asked for advice from, but that was definitely off the table, and Mako hadn’t exactly been much help that night. Opal would never let her see the end of it if she asked her about Asami, and Bolin was even more hopeless than Mako. She was on her own. 

So she decided to take a direct approach.

At lunch break Korra found herself rubbing clammy hands together and reciting lines inside of her head. 

_We need to talk about the kiss. I have something to tell you._

She hoped that would be a good enough start. But her heart was beating much too quickly and her hands were practically bouncing off the table as Asami came towards her and sat down. 

“Hey Asami?”

“Yeah?”

_We need to talk about the kiss. Say it, Korra, dammit._

“Do you want to sleep over this weekend?”

_Shit. Shit. No._

Asami raised her eyebrows. They hadn’t done that kind of thing since sixth grade. Korra had no idea why she’d said it. She didn’t know how she was going to sleep beside Asami the whole night and not embarrass herself. 

But then Asami smiled. “Sure, sounds great. I miss doing that.”

She’d dug herself into a deeper hole. “Alright, cool. Saturday?”

“Saturday.”

 

*** * * * ***

 

Asami looked around Korra’s room, as if searching for something. She stroked her chin. It was cute.

"We'll need three more chairs," Asami said finally, and Korra snapped out of her reverie.  
"Chairs?" 

"Yeah. To make the pillow fort. We always used to."

Oh. Korra smiled a little. Things seemed so much simpler back then. Before feelings made things strange and fragile.

"I'll get the blankets," Korra said, trying to ignore her heart hammering in her chest.

 

*** * * * ***

 

The space inside the pillow fort was small; very small. Hardly enough space for two bodies. 

They lay down, and Korra felt hot suddenly. She didn’t know if it was because of the stuffiness inside of the fort or if it was because Asami’s side was pressed up against hers.

It was already late. The fort-making had tired them out too much to carry on much of a conversation, Korra realized. She brought in her laptop and started some fantasy movie neither of them had seen, but she really wasn't paying attention. She thought about the girl next to her, mostly. Even before the party, she had found herself doing this intermittently--just thinking about her--and she began to suspect that she'd felt this way for longer than she realized.

Asami fell asleep with her head against Korra's shoulder. Korra couldn't sleep for another half hour after that.

 

*** * * * ***

 

Korra woke up to an arm around her waist and a leg tossed over one of hers. 

Asami hummed into Korra's shoulder, feeling her stirring. They stayed there frozen for a moment, and Korra didn't mind it at all.

“Is this okay?” Asami asked eventually, her voice muffled in Korra’s shoulder.

“What do you mean?” Korra asked, her voice still thick with sleep.

“I’m just...afraid I’ve screwed things up. Ever since the party you’ve been acting weird around me, and...” she trailed off.

Korra’s mouth was stuck shut.

Asami began to disentangle herself from Korra. “If you don’t want to hang out any more after this, I understand.” 

How much Korra did not want that brought her voice back. “NO! No. It’s not that at all. Kind of the opposite.” 

Too late to go back now.

“I was actually sort of hoping that wouldn’t be the only time I’d get to kiss you.”

Asami propped herself up on her elbows, finally meeting Korra’s eyes. “You’re serious?”

Korra didn’t know how to take that. “Yeah.”

Asami stared at the wall of the fort, her mouth open slightly. She was quiet for so long Korra called her name once.

She shook her head. “Sorry. I’ve been trying to convince myself you didn’t see me that way for three years and I guess it worked.”

Korra gawked at her. “That’s eighth grade.”

She nodded. “You were captain of the basketball team that year. I thought it was admiration at first.”

Korra smiled, heart beating quickly. “What changed that?”

“Growing up a bit and realizing what it really was. But I never thought... I mean, Korra, until that day you hadn’t shown any interest in girls in general, and me personally seemed like even more of a long shot. I was convinced that stupid game in the closet would be the only time we’d ever go anywhere past friendship. But then you called me beautiful and looked at me like that." 

Asami took a breath. "And I started hoping even though I thought for sure it was stupid.”

Korra blushed. “I think I’ve had feelings for you for a while. I guess it just took kissing you for me to realize them.”

Asami grinned and leaned down to kiss Korra on the cheek. “I didn’t know my lips were so powerful.”

The blush probably wasn’t going to leave Korra’s face for a week now, but she laughed anyway. “I didn’t know my 8th grade basketball moves were so powerful.”

Asami smiled, leaning back into Korra’s shoulder. “You’ve always been pretty ripped, you know.” 

Korra tentatively wrapped an arm around her. “Fair point.”

**Author's Note:**

> My first AU! I'm drafting the plans for yet another modern Korrasami AU at the moment, one that will be much longer and definitely more of a challenge for me, but I'm very excited about it! 
> 
> Comments are much appreciated, as always :)


End file.
